A lot has been written about Apple and Steve Job’s brilliance in engaging youth and adults around the world. They keep jumping on every new product and actually queue up all night. Last weekend I observed two simple reactions that made me believe that Apple has a bright future beyond the current set of users.

I returned to Hong Kong after a month long business trip to India and finally got my much awaited iPad 3G 64G. Being a very Apple household both me and my wife were excited to get a new gadget. My in-laws are currently with us and they couldn’t understand our excitement for the iPad. But once we got it even my mom-in-law (who is not interested in tech) got super excited – she loved the feel – was thrilled to read a book and see all her favorite videos. She actually insisted that my father-in-law replaces his laptop with an iPad.

Later that day we visited a close friend. He just got an iPad as a birthday gift and unfortunately lost it to his daughter almost the very next day. His 6 years old already considers it as her own and refuses to share. It is providing her education and entertainment in a very user friendly manner.

These are extreme age groups that most consumer electronics and computing companies don’t really target. In my opinion they’ll make a huge difference because people similar to my in-laws have the money and very little responsibility. And kids below 10 have a lot of pester power to force their helpless parents.

For now I’m convinced iPad has caught fancy of both these age-groups and to me that suggests bringing in new users into the Apple brand franchise.